The present invention relates to cheese processing equipment; and more particularly to equipment which adds salt to the cheese product.
Various types of cheese, such as mozzarella, have salt added to them during processing. This is typically done after the cheese has been molded or extruded into the desired shape. When extruded, the cheese first is cut into a properly sized portions. The formed cheese then drops into a brine solution in which it soaks for hours until the desired amount of salt has been absorbed. This process not only is time consuming, but requires a significant amount of floor space in the factory for the relatively large brine tanks that contain many hours (normally between 6 and 24 hours) production of cheese.
To avoid the long brining process, salt sometimes is added to the curd. This pre-salting results in chlorinated waste products, the disposal of which is an environmental problem. Ideally, the salt should be added after the cooking step and before the cheese is molded. Therefore, it is desirable to provide an alternative method of introducing salt into the cheese during processing in a way which is both faster and requires less factory area.
However, when adding salt to the curd, the amount of salt must be controlled accurately as variation in the proportions of salt and cheese affects the flavor of the end product. Therefore, the amount of cheese to which the salt is being added must be precisely measured and the amount of salt must be controlled accordingly. Heretofore, equipment was not available to dynamically weigh the cheese as it flowed continuously through the processing equipment.